Commonwealth Games 2014: Powell sisters head up Welsh judo squad for Glasgow

The seven men and three women set to take to the dojo for Team Wales include National Coach and Manchester 2002 competitor Craig Ewers and current IJF senior world ranked number 13 Natalie Powell and her sister Kirsty

Team Wales have selected a team of 10 judo aces to compete at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games as the sport reappears on the programme after a 12-year absence.

The seven men and three women set to take to the dojo for Team Wales include National Coach and Manchester 2002 competitor Craig Ewers and current IJF senior world ranked number 13 Natalie Powell.

Fighting in the same class as Team GB Olympic silver medallist Gemma Gibbons, 23 year-old Natalie will be one of nine athletes set to compete at their first Commonwealth Games.

Sister of Natalie, Kirsty Powell will also be competing for Wales in the 57kg class and 19 year-old Jade Lewis from Swansea, who has recently competed in both the Junior World and European Championships, completes the team of three women.

Curtis Dodge and Kyle Davies from Swansea, Jamie MacDonald from Maesteg, Connor Ireland from Neath, Ruslan Rancev from Flintshire and Mark Shaw from Newport make up the team of 10.

“It’s fantastic to see judo back on the Commonwealth Games schedule, it’s been 12 years and the sport has developed a lot in that time,” said Ewers.

“We have selected a really strong squad to represent Wales in Glasgow and we’re all going out there to compete to the best of our abilities and to hopefully bring medals back with us.”

Chris Jenkins, Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Games Council for Wales, the organisation responsible for selecting and sending a team to compete for Wales, said: “The nature of the Commonwealth Games programme often means that a number of sports often miss out on the chance to compete.

“It is brilliant to see that judo is back on the schedule, giving our strong team of judoka the opportunity to do their country proud.

“For nine members of the team it will be their first major multi-sport competition and it will be a great experience for them all.”

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.